^28:12 But where is wisdom found, and what is the place of understanding?
^28:13 Man does not know its price. Nor is it found in the land of those who live pleasantly;
^28:14 the abyss says: It is not in me, and the sea says: It is not with me.
^28:15 The finest gold will not be given for it, nor will silver be weighed out in exchange for it.
^28:16 It will not be compared with the dyed colors of India, nor with the most precious sardonyx stone or sapphire.
^28:17 Gold or glass will not be equaled to it. Vessels of gold,
^28:18 lofty and eminent, will not be exchanged for it, nor will they be remembered in comparison with it. But wisdom is drawn from hidden places.
^28:19 The topaz of Ethiopia will not be equaled to it, nor will the purest dyes be compared with it.
^28:20 Whence, then, does wisdom come, and what is the place of understanding?
^28:21 It is hidden from the eyes of all the living; it lies hidden also from the birds of heaven.
^28:22 Perdition and death have said: With our ears we have heard its fame.
^28:23 God understands its way, and he himself knows its place.
^28:24 For he beholds the ends of the world and looks upon all things that are under heaven.
^28:25 He made weight for the winds and weighed the waters by measure,
^28:26 when he set a law for the rains and a way for resounding storms.
^28:27 Then he saw it and declared it, and prepared it and investigated it,
^28:28 and he said to man: Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to withdraw from evil, understanding.

385. But where is wisdom found, etc. Because he had shown that all the precious things found in bodily things are contained in determined places, which, if they are unknown to men, are nevertheless known to God, in order to show the eminence of wisdom he first brings forward that it is not contained in a determined place, whence he says: But where is wisdom found? As if to say: it is enclosed in no bodily place, because it is not something bodily. But the precious things that are in bodies, not only they themselves but also their principles, are enclosed in bodily places; yet this cannot be said of wisdom, whence he adds: and what is the place of understanding? For the intellect is the principle of knowledge and wisdom; but just as wisdom is not enclosed by place, so neither is understanding, which is its principle.

Second, he shows the dignity of wisdom by the fact that it cannot be valued by a price, whence he adds: Man does not know its price, that is, nothing that man knows is sufficient as the price of wisdom.

386. But he makes both of the foregoing points manifest by consequence,

and first indeed what he had said, that wisdom is not found in a determined place. Now the things that are regarded as precious among men are found partly among delicate men, who strive to gather precious stones and metals, whence he adds: Nor is it found in the land of those who live pleasantly, that is, of the delicate, because they are especially hindered from the perception of wisdom, having their heart occupied with delights. But such precious bodily things are found partly in certain dark depths; yet it is not so with wisdom, whence he adds: the abyss says: It is not in me, as if, namely, the things that lie hidden in the secrets of the depths are especially hidden from human wisdom. But they are found partly in the sea, both because they are generated there, as pearls in sea shells, or because they are lost there in ships sunk there; but it is not so with wisdom. Also, such precious things are usually carried by sea from place to place, whence he adds: and the sea says: It is not with me; indeed, rather, the things that are in the sea especially lie hidden from human wisdom.

387. Then he makes manifest what he had said, that wisdom cannot be valued by a price, and he enumerates the things that are most precious among men, saying: The finest gold will not be given, that is, the purest gold, for it, because the price of wisdom cannot be valued by any gold; but after gold, among other things, silver is regarded as more precious, concerning which he adds: nor will silver be weighed out in exchange for it. Besides metals, there are also certain most precious stones of different colors, which are produced especially in India, concerning which there is added: It will not be compared, that is, wisdom will not be compared, with the dyed colors of India, that is, with precious stones naturally dyed with different colors in India. And he adds concerning certain precious stones that are also found in other lands, whence he adds: nor with the most precious sardonyx stone, which, namely, is composed from two stones, namely, from sard, which is red in color, kindling the soul to joy and sharpening the mind, and from onyx, which is bound by it, as though having certain harmful powers, namely, of exciting sadness and fear, whose harm is restrained by sard; whence it is said to have the property that it drives away lust, making a man chaste and modest, and so it is called most precious. But he adds: and sapphire, which is of a heavenly color, and which is also precious because of the many powers that it has;

nor does it matter that some other stones are more precious, because the prices of stones are not the same either in all places or in all times. But he adds concerning those things that have preciousness from beauty, saying: Gold will not be equaled to it, which has beauty from splendor, or glass, which has beauty from transparency, although it does not excel in the valuation of price. But he adds concerning those things that have beauty from art when he says: Vessels of gold, lofty, namely, in quantity, and eminent, will not be exchanged for it, namely, in composition. And just as they cannot be exchanged for wisdom, so also all the aforesaid things are counted as nothing in comparison with wisdom, whence he adds: nor will they be remembered in comparison with it, that is, it is not fitting that even a remembrance of these things be had when mention is made of the excellence of wisdom.

388. And because he had said that certain bodily things are hidden and for this reason are regarded as precious, he consequently shows that this preciousness also is not lacking to wisdom when there is added: But wisdom is drawn from hidden places. For the origin of human wisdom is hidden in two ways: in one way on the part of the intellectual light, which is derived to us from the most hidden cause of all, namely, from God; in another way on the part of the things known, whose hidden properties and essences wisdom inquires into, and from these it ascends into the knowledge of divine things, which is most of all appropriated to wisdom. Hence he concludes that neither by reason of preciousness nor by reason of hiddenness can anything be compared with it, not even among precious stones, whence he adds: The topaz of Ethiopia will not be equaled to it, which, namely, is so called from the place of its first discovery, or because in the color of gold it displays a likeness; but with respect to precious garments he adds: nor will the purest dyes, that is, of any silk or woolen cloth, be compared, that is, be compared to wisdom.

389. Therefore, because he had said that wisdom is thus incomparable and has a hidden origin, he inquires whence its principle is when he adds: Whence, then, does wisdom come, that is, whence is it derived? And what is the place of understanding, that is, from what principle do men participate in the light of the intellect? But he shows that this principle exceeds all human knowledge, whence he adds: It is hidden from the eyes of all the living, because the fountain of wisdom is the Word of God on high, as is said in Sirach 1:5. Now there were some followers of auguries who believed that certain augural birds participated in a certain effect of wisdom beyond men, inasmuch as they believed that through them knowledge of future things came to men; but he shows that wisdom exceeds this conjecture, adding: it lies hidden also from the birds of heaven, by which it can be understood that the origin of wisdom exceeds the heavenly bodies by which birds of this kind are moved.

There are also some who sought knowledge of future things from the dead, but neither does this attain to the origin of wisdom, whence he adds: Perdition and death have said: With our ears we have heard its fame. And rightly does he attribute the fame of wisdom to death and perdition, because perdition and death imply withdrawal and distance from the goods that follow upon wisdom. Yet the three foregoing points can pertain metaphorically to the three kinds of rational creature, so that what he says, It is hidden from the eyes of all the living, is referred to men; what he adds, it lies hidden from the birds of heaven, is referred to the angels; and what is added, Perdition and death have said: We have heard its fame, is referred to the demons, who, being damnably distanced from God, have knowledge of divine wisdom from afar, as though only from its fame.

390. Therefore, to show the root of wisdom, he adds: God understands its way, that is, the whole process of wisdom, since he himself is both the origin of wisdom and the place of understanding; and because he knows himself perfectly, he therefore adds: and he himself knows its place, that is, himself, in whom wisdom is found fully as in its first origin. But wisdom is derived from him into all creatures that are made through the wisdom of God, just as art is derived from the mind of the craftsman into his work; whence it is said in Sirach 1:10 that God pours out wisdom upon all his works. Hence also the very universe of creatures is, as it were, a certain secondary place of wisdom; and therefore, to show that God knows the place of wisdom, he adds that he himself knows the universe of creatures:

first indeed he shows this with respect to the outermost creatures, under which the others are contained, whence he adds: For he beholds the ends of the world, that is, the more excellent creatures in which the order of creatures is terminated by ascending from the lower ones, such as the heavenly bodies and the heavenly spirits;

then he shows this with respect to the other creatures contained under them, such as the elements, whence he adds: and looks upon all things that are under heaven.

391. And lest someone believe that he has knowledge of things received from things, as we do, he consequently shows that he knows things as the cause of all, whence he adds, with respect to certain hidden creatures, namely winds and rains: He made weight for the winds, that is, he gave them the inclination of motion, so that, namely, they are moved sometimes to this part, sometimes to that.

Then he speaks of rains, and first indeed according as they are raised up vaporously in the clouds, whence he adds: and the waters, namely, vaporous waters, he weighed, that is, he holds them suspended in the air, and this by measure, lest, namely, if they exceeded, they should submerge all things, or if they were diminished more than is due, all things should be dried up;

second, with respect to the very generation of rains, when he says: when he set a law for the rains, so that, namely, they would descend at certain times and places;

third, with respect to their effect, and especially in the sea, which is most of all moved by a change of the air, whence he adds: and a way, namely, he set, for resounding storms, namely, storms of the sea, because of their great disturbance, since even storms of this kind arise at certain times and according to a certain quantity.

392. But because he does not acquire wisdom from creatures themselves, as we do, but rather produced creatures from his wisdom, therefore he adds: Then, namely, when he was making creatures, he saw it, namely, wisdom in himself, insofar as by the actual consideration of his wisdom he produced things in being.

But wisdom was derived from him first indeed to the angels, who were made partakers of divine wisdom, and with respect to this he says: and he declared it, namely, by manifesting his wisdom to them;

second, however, to the universe of creatures by disposing it through his wisdom, and to this pertains what he adds: and he prepared, namely, the orb of the earth in his wisdom;

third, to men, who do not perceive the wisdom of truth by simple apprehension, as the angels do to whom it is declared, but arrive at it by the inquiry of reason, whence he adds: and he investigated it, that is, he made men investigate it; and this is what he adds: and he said to man, namely, by illuminating him through interior inspiration and communicating wisdom: Behold, the fear of the Lord, which, namely, I give you in the present, that is wisdom, because through the fear of the Lord man adheres to God, in whom is the true wisdom of man as in the highest cause of all; and to withdraw from evil, that is, from sin, by which man loses God, is understanding, because, namely, understanding is especially necessary to man for this, that by understanding he may discern evils from goods,

and, once these have been avoided, through the execution of good works he may arrive at participation in divine wisdom. Thus, therefore, because the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to withdraw from evil, understanding, it follows that the just, who fear God and withdraw from evil, have wisdom and understanding, which are preferred to all the earthly goods that wicked men possess. And thus it is manifest that the reason of divine providence is preserved in this: that spiritual goods are given to the just as better things, but temporal goods to the wicked as perishable things.